MOSCOW: Investigators announced Wednesday that Russia had arrested a suspect in the murder of the chief of the army’s chemical weapons section, one day after the general and his assistant were killed in a blatant explosion in Moscow that Ukraine alleged was caused by the Russian military.
An explosive device mounted on a scooter detonated Tuesday morning outside an apartment complex in southeastern Moscow, killing Igor Kirillov and his aide. The attack demonstrated that “the Kyiv regime does not shy away from using terrorist methods,” according to the Kremlin.
The 54-year-old Kirillov was the highest ranking military official to be killed in Russia since the Kremlin dispatched soldiers to Ukraine over three years ago.
The Investigative Committee, which looks into serious crimes in Russia, said in a statement that a 1995-born Uzbek national was detained on suspicion of carrying out the attack. It also stated that the arrested suspect claimed to have been “recruited by Ukrainian special forces.”
In a video, the defendant claims that he was promised “$100,000 and a European passport.”
Video footage showed the handcuffed man confessing to the crime while suffering many facial injuries. He claimed that in exchange for carrying out the act, he was given “$100,000 and a European passport.”
According to investigators, the suspect got an explosive device on an electric scooter parked outside Kirillov’s apartment building, which he ignited using a remote control. He claimed to have come to Moscow to carry out the attack.
The attack was captured on camera and broadcast “live to the attack organizers, in the (Ukrainian) city of Dnipro” from a rental car parked outside the building.
The suspect is accused of committing a “terrorist” attack, and investigators stated that they were looking for additional participants. Dmitry Peskov, the spokesperson for the Kremlin, commended security forces for their “quick” and “efficient” work in apprehending a suspect.
A day after President Vladimir Putin celebrated Russian troop victories in Ukraine, a bomb occurred in a residential neighborhood in southeast Moscow.
The Russian army’s chemical, biological, and radiological weapons unit was commanded by Kirillov, who was recently sanctioned by the British government for allegedly using chemical weapons in Ukraine.
“War criminal”
On Tuesday, a source in Ukraine’s SBU security service claimed responsibility for the explosion in what it described as a “special operation” and referred to Kirillov as a “war criminal.”
Kirillov was charged by the SBU on Monday for allegedly using chemical weapons in Ukraine.
According to Russian officials, the attack is being investigated as “terrorism.” However, the SBU source stated that Kirillov was both a war criminal and a legitimate target because he ordered the Ukrainian military to use chemical weapons that were prohibited.
“Anyone who murders Ukrainians will meet such a disgraceful end. “War crimes will inevitably result in retaliation,” the insider stated.
Russia has been accused by the United States and Britain of violating the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) by employing the poisonous chemical chloropicrin, which was used extensively as a choking agent during World War I.
